Results tagged ‘ Adrian Gonzalez ’
Gut check time starts tonight at Fenway
What is easily the biggest series of Boston’s baseball season starts tonight at Fenway, as the Rays come in for the first of a four-game series. Obviously this series is huge because the Sox didn’t take care of business last weekend at Tropicana Field, losing three straight.
The Rays deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the way they’ve hung in this thing, beating the Red Sox head on nine out of 14 times entering tonight.
“Against us, their pitching – they have a plan and they follow through with it,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “They’ve really done a good job against our hitters for the most part. They have very good pitching. They’re a hard team to play because they’re so aggressive and if you give them an opening they make you pay for it. Saying that, I’m kind of looking forward to this series. It’ll be fun to play. Because they are – they feel good about themselves. So this will be fun to play.”
This game is going to be the hardest of the four for the Sox to win, with Kyle Weiland facing a talented pitcher in Jeremy Hellickson.
“The kid tonight pitches beyond his years as far as maturity and his changeup. And he has enough velocity,” Francona said of Hellickson.
Here are all the permutations possible by the end of the weekend.
Sox win all four. They lead the Rays by eight with 10 to go.
Sox win three out of four. They lead the Rays by six with 10 to go.
Sox and Rays split the series. Sox still lead the Rays by four with 10 to go.
Rays win three out of four. They leave town two games behind the Sox with 10 to go.
Rays sweep. The teams are tied with 10 to play.
The Red Sox had some good news on the injury front today, as Clay Buchholz pitched off a mound for the first time since being shut down two months ago. Buchholz threw 15 pitches in front of the mound and 15 off of it. The righty’s big test will come Saturday, when he is scheduled to have a full-blown side session.
The other good news is that the lineup has both David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez, who have recovered enough from their nagging injuries to play in this one.
Old Home Night at Fenway
Is this a baseball game or a family reunion? There is definitely a different feel tonight at Fenway, where Adrian Gonzalez is playing against the Padres for the first time and Anthony Rizzo — one of the centerpieces of the trade — is making his Fenway debut against the team that drafted him and helped him through his recovery from cancer.
Then there is Dave Roberts coaching first base, Jed Hoyer back in town as Padres GM and Jason McLeod, the mastermind behind the drafting of Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Daniel Bard etc., back as San Diego’s assistant GM.
“It’s old home week,” Francona said.
One fact is that it will be special for Dave Roberts and the Red Sox every time he walks into Fenway Park for the rest of his life. Roberts now coaches first for the Padres.
“If it wasn’t for Dave, you’d be talking to somebody else [instead of me],” quipped Francona.
There is also a human interest element to the return of Roberts, as he recently overcame lymphoma, undergoing his treatments at the Jimmy Fund.
“It’s great. Obviously, I’m in a different capacity. I’m not playing for the Sox. I’m not coming here for treatments. I’m a coach now. But it’s fun. I’m trying to live through these guys and let them know how special this place is,” Roberts said.
As for the low-key Gonzalez, he took the day for what it was. And then he bashed a hard single to left in his first at-bat.
“Yeah, I had lunch with a few of [my ex-teammates], we hung out a ltitle bit. We walked to the ballpark. It was a good afternoon. Now it’s about playuing the game,” said Gonzalez.
Rizzo, on the other hand, figured to have a lot more in the nerves department.
“My emotions? I don’t know. It’s a blessing in disguise, maybe, that I’m playing here with everything they helped me through. Just going to come out and try to play good baseball,” Rizzo said.
It was one of those nights when everyone was happy to see each other. Francona put it best.
“This is kind of a win-win for everybody,” Francona said. “To get Gonzi, you’ve got to give up some pretty special people and he certainly is and has a chance to be, not just as a player but as a person. He’s a pretty solid kid.”
Odds and Ends from Fenway, April 29
- Matt Albers, who relieved an injured Daisuke Matsuzaka in the fifth, said after Boston’s 5-4 loss to the Mariners that he had as much time as he needed to warm up. Albers was just on the DL because of a strained right lat, but said he wasn’t worried about a flare-up. That injury was minor to begin with. Albers threw two scoreless innings and allowed one hit, striking out and walking one.
- Jacoby Ellsbury has a season-high eight-game hit streak after going 1-for-4 on Friday night. The last time he had a hit streak that length was July 31 to Aug. 8, 2009. “Last week or so though, he’s using the whole field, he’s getting on top of the ball when he hits the ball to left field, and he’s hitting a lot of line drives,” manager Terry Francona said before the game.
- Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz both have a hit streak at six games. Gonzalez has multiple hits in four of those games. He went 2-for-4 Friday and is 12-for-27 during the streak (.444). Gonzalez scored the 500th run of his career in the third inning Friday.
- The Red Sox were 2-for-4 with runners in scoring position Friday. Boston entered the day hitting .217 with runners on second and/or third, fourth-worst in the Majors and second-worst in the American League (behind Oakland). “We’ve not been real good at it so far,” Francona said before the game. “That’s something we drastically want to improve on.”
- Bobby Jenks was a stand-up guy when answering questions after he took the loss Friday, waiting by his locker for reporters to return from the media room. In a note possibly related to his performance, and possibly related to nothing, Jenks also appeared to have shaved after the game.
- Comedic line of the night went to Jason Varitek. Asked what Daisuke Matsuzaka said when he went out to the mound to check on the right-hander in the fifth, the captain responded: “Well, he said it in Japanese, so I don’t really know.”
- On a 70-degree day in Boston, Mike Cameron jokingly wore a Red Sox ski hat in the clubhouse before batting practice. He went on to hit two home runs.
Gonzalez debut is a hit
Upon arrival into the Red Sox clubhouse today, the security attendant at the door said, “Pretty nice lineup today.”
So I glanced and there it was, Adrian Gonzalez batting third, and playing first base.
Recovering from right shoulder surgery, Gonzalez had yet to play an exhibition game this spring.
But on his first pitch of the Grapefruit League season, Gonzalez ripped a line single to left. And it was against one of baseball’s best — if most underrated pitchers — in Josh Johnson.
Here is the full lineup. Aside from Cameron in for Crawford, it’s a lot like what you will see on Opening Day in Texas:
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Youkilis 3B
Ortiz DH
Drew RF
Cameron LF
Saltalamacchia C
Scutaro SS
Lackey SP
Gonzalez targets next week for debut
Adrian Gonzalez went through a full round of batting practice on the field at City of Palms Park today and anticipates playing in his first exhibition game by next week, though he did leave wiggle room to get in there a little sooner.
“Tomorrow I’ll hit again on the field if everything feels good tomorrow morning and see how it responds hitting back-to-back days,” Gonzalez said. “Right now, the plan is to take it easy on Thursday. I don’t think I’m going to be off, but I’m going to back off and give it a rest so I can start planning out for some kind of game action next week sometime, maybe even earlier, I don’t know. Maybe next week sometime.”
One thing Gonzalez wants to make clear is that the injury and subsequent surgery should have minimal impact on his offensive performance.
“The biggest change for me to be able to dive after a ball on defense,” Gonzalez said. “That’s the biggest plan because I could hit last year, no problem. But I was limited in diving. That’s the biggest reason I had it. It wasn’t for my hitting. After I did it three or four times and everything flared up, it wasn’t feeling good. You teach yourself to stop diving.”
Gonzalez set for tee ball
Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who had right shoulder surgery over the winter, has been cleared to start swinging a bat.
Gonzalez hit off the tee on Monday, and will do again for the next two days, and the team will evaluate the next step after that.
The slugger will have no problem at all being ready for Opening Day and is, in fact, ahead of schedule.
Here was the statement issued by the Red Sox:
“Adrian reported to Spring Training in excellent condition after working with the team training staff this offseason. He was evaluated on Friday (February 18) at the time of his Spring Training physical examination by the team’s medical staff. At that time, he was noted to have full range of motion, no tenderness, and excellent strength. Based upon this examination, Medical Director Dr. Tom Gill spoke with Dr. Altchek yesterday, who performed the surgery, and it was agreed that Adrian could begin hitting off of a tee. Adrian will continue to work with Head Athletic Trainer Mike Reinold and the team’s training staff to work on his shoulder rehabilitation program, while incorporating more baseball specific activity as his progression allows.”
More from the day Gonzo was unveiled
An impactful move by the Red Sox is one that makes the Yankees take notice. Yes, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is fully aware of the type of damage Gonzalez might do against his team for the next several years.
“It makes them a great team,” Cashman said. “He’s a heck of a hitter. That’s a huge addition for Boston. We know what our areas of weaknesses are that we need to tackle, and that’s what we need to continue to focus on. But they just obviously improved themselves in a significant way. He’s one of the premier players at that position in the game.”
Gonzalez showed good sensibility in his greeting with the Boston press, immediately talking about his goal of helping the Red Sox topple the Yankees.
“It was very emotional and very up and down,” said Gonzalez. “But I’m very excited that everything was able to be worked out and I’m very excited to be here in Boston. And I’m ready to beat the Yanks.”
He’s also like to help the Red Sox raise some more of those banners — like the ones from 2004 and 2007.
“I’ve had five incredible years in San Diego. My dream as a kid was to play in the Major Leagues and be a Padre and my second dream was to be a Red Sox. So I’m very excited, God has been very, very good to me and I’m just very excited to start the season and look forward to a lot of world championships,” Gonzalez said.
“It was one of the things where you grow up and you always root for a National League team and an American League team and the Red Sox have always been the American League team that I rooted for and I think with Ted Williams and all those things and him being from San Diego and seeing what he did here, everyone knows he’s one of the greatest of all time, there’s always been a lot of connections between me and my heart and the Red Sox.”
Watching Gonzalez hit at Fenway figures to become a must-watch experience, much like Manny Ramirez during his prime years.
“He’s one of the very best hitters in the game, a left-handed hitter with a
tremendous ability to control the strike zone, hit, hit for power, has power to all fields. His natural stroke is probably to the opposite field which is a great fit for our ballpark,” said Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein. “He hits the ball the other way with ease, so we
think he’s going to wear the wall out. Just going from PETCO to Fenway Park should do wonders for his overall production, not that it needs any help. He likes the ball away from him a little bit. He’s a thinking man’s hitter who controls the at-bats and knows what he wants to do up there and goes up to the plate with a plan every time.
“Defensively, he’s a plus fielder with great hands, good feet around the bag, and he can really throw. He’s a playmaker on defense and has outstanding makeup. He’s a high-character person who leads by example and wants to win. That and he’s working on his speed, he said, this winter, so he can get a lot of doubles to left.”
By the way, Gonzalez did not have a number on his jersey during his unveiling, but Mike Cameron will give him 23 once some friendly high-stakes negotiations are complete.
“We’re in discussion,” laughed Cameron. “You know, I’m going to get something nice for Christmas.”
As for Red Sox manager Terry Francona, his early Christmas present is getting to pencil Gonzalez into his lineup every day.
“This is one of the best hitters in baseball,” Francona said in an interview with WEEI radio in Boston. “This is a big move for us. We’re getting a middle of the order bat, a guy that’s won a couple of Gold Gloves. He’s still young. This is exciting. We gave up some good players to get him, but that’s the only way you can get a guy of his caliber.”
Francona could sense how much Epstein wanted to make the deal happen.
“This was an important one,” Francona said. “I could tell that Theo was really digging his heels in on this one. And I’m glad he did because when he feels that strongly it’s got a chance to really be good for us.”
The perfect match
As the Red Sox unveiled their new slugger today in perhaps the franchise’s most impactful acquisition since Curt Schilling seven winters ago, Theo Epstein stated that, “It seems like Adrian was meant to be a Red Sox, and we’re glad to make it happen.”
It was destined for a couple of reasons. The Red Sox have been coveting a power bat who is in the prime years of his career for at least two years, dating back to when Mark Teixeira signed with the Yankees. Gonzalez was the most logical person to fill that void, considering his age, his skills and the fact the Padres couldn’t keep him long term. The deal became even more inevitable a year ago, when Jed Hoyer become the Padres’ GM and Jason McLeod left the Red Sox to become his assistant.
McLeod was the leader in Boston’s draft room when they selected the three players that the Sox wound up sending to San Diego.
As Epstein said, “It was a case of all known commodities.”
Hoyer was equally candid about how much the familiarity helped to facilitate the trade.
“The knowledge was a big thing. Boston was clearly the most aggressive team in pursuing Adrian,” Hoyer said. “We really liked this package of players. From a talent standpoint, this was clearly the best package that we had. but the knowledge of the prospects also had a lot to do with it. Jason McLeod was the scouting director when all three of these guys were drafted. I know all three of these players. Perhaps the biggest anxiety you have with any trade is the unknown. You don’t know the players, you don’t know the personality. You don’t know the toughness. All of that is taken out of the equation in this trade for us.
“We know these guys. we know they have a great makeup. That’s a huge variable we don’t have to worry about. It lets you sleep a lot better at night knowing that ultimately the talent will take them as far as they’re going to go, but we know their mental toughness. Their makeup is going to be top notch. That’s a big problem when you make trades. You don’t usually have that knowledge. “
Hoyer also has great knowledge of Gonzalez, and he has good news for Red Sox fans.”I think he’s going to be unbelievable in Fenway Park. I think he’s going to be a monster at Fenway Park.”
Gonzalez also got things off on the right foot with Sox fans when he stated, “I’m ready to beat the Yanks.”
Keep in mind how heavily the rivaly has swung in favor of the Yankees since they signed Teixeira. In 2009, the Yankees won the World Series and the Red Sox lost in the Division Series. Last year, the Yankees advanced to Game 6 of the ALCS. The Red Sox didn’t make the postseason.
Gonzalez could go a long way toward leveling the playing field.
Epstein will arrive here in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. later today, so the Boston media will gather with him at some point this evening. More updates from him then on the blog and on redsox.com..
Theo finally gets his bat
The quest started two winters ago, really. That was when Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein knew that the time was near when his team would need a middle-of-the-order bat to carry it through the next several years, much like David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez did from 2003-07.
Sure, Ortiz is still around, and still productive. But he’s no longer the guy who can carry a team all season. So Epstein put up a strong fight for Mark Teixeira after the ’08 season, but the first baseman went to New York. It was then that Epstein immediately started eying Gonzalez. He first tried to trade for him in 2009, at the July trade deadline. At the time, two assistants named Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod were trying to help him make that swap. It didn’t go through.
So this time, Epstein dealt with Hoyer, the Padres GM, and McLeod, San Diego’s assistant GM, to get the big lefty bat. He trades three very legitimate prospects in Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo and Reymond Fuentes, all of whom were selected when McLeod was running Boston’s draft board.
Epstein, meanwhile, gets a 28-year-old lefty bat who should be nothing short of a force in 2011. There’s no contract worked out just yet. But the same could be said in November, 1997, when Dan Duquette traded Carl Pavano and Tony Armas, Jr. for Pedro Martinez. By the time the 1998 season started, Martinez was signed for the next six years, and ultimately for a seventh year thanks to a club option. The same should happen for Gonzalez. The Red Sox wouldn’t make this trade if they weren’t fully confident they were keeping him for the long haul.
Suddenly, the Sox have a certifiable buzz about them again in a trade that might be as big as the one that brought Curt Schilling to Fenway in November, 2003.
As presently constituted, the Red Sox Opening Day lineup would look something like this:
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Youkilis 3B
Ortiz DH
Drew RF
Cameron LF
Saltalamacchia/Varitek C
Scutaro SS
But Epstein is still likely to pursue another bat in the outfield. Stay tuned. But he has made one huge move that will have fans eagerly anticipating 2011.
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